Simple Duties
by janurabi
Summary: Part II in the "Blood is Thicker" series. A short story exploring the growing relationship between Willow and Shalimar. Sequal to "Healing the Feral Heart". Please R&R. Pretty Please!
1. Bright & Early

Blood is Thicker Part II 

Simple Duties

Plot Summary: Willow tries adjust to the new life with Mutant X She quickly learns that being part of Mutant X isn't always about playing hero all the time. Hints at a B/S relationship. A much lighter and shorter story than the previous. Much shorter. This story takes place three days after the conclusion of "Healing the Feral Heart". I think you have to read "Healing the Feral Heart" in order to understand what's happening here.

Chapter 1 – Bright & Early

"I want to thank everyone on the committee for choosing to honor me with this prestigious award. Receiving this is just a dream come true for me. A lifetime I have spent trying to break the mold in genetics and this award is a vindication for that work."

Scanning her eyes around the room and seeing the smiles on all the audience, she finally felt accepted and relieved that society was no longer judging her as a freak. As she worked through her speech, she secretly analyzed all the men, clad in tuxedo. _Damn_, she thought, _I should win this award more often_. Picking a few out, she memorized their faces for mingling after the ceremony.

"I'd like to thank my mentor Adam Kane, for his support and understanding. For sending me in the right direction. My close and beloved friends, Brennen, Jesse and Emma, who where always there for me, through thick and thin. And finally to my sister, Shalimar, who couldn't…be…here"

She smacked an annoying tickle, which mischievously played on her forehead. Remembering where she had left off, she continued on with her speech.

"Uhh…I'd like to thank my sister, Shalimar, who unfortunately was unable to join us tonight…" 

Again, the annoying tickle made it's way to her forehead. Smacking furiously at the sensation, she quickly lost track of where she was and what she was doing.

The room was still dark, with a small light emanating from the halls of the Sanctuary as Willow laid in her bed continuing to struggle for more sleep. Again, she felt a tickle on the forehead and slowly opened her eyes to see a pair of yellow ones staring back at her.

"Wakie, wakie sleepyhead," Shalimar smiled as she observed Willow turning over onto her other side, trying to buy several more minutes.

Shalimar giggled and shook her head. "Come on you big baby, don't make me get rough with ya."

"Some other time, alright? I'm busy," Willow's voice trailed off, as she began to slowly make her way back to lala land.

"Oh no you don't." Shalimar rolled Willow back to face her. Seeing her sister's eyes closed, she shook her head knowing she had no other choice. Not that she was complaining though.

Quickly, she rolled on top of Willow, straddling her and pinning her arms with one hand above her head. Catching Shalimar's drift, Willow's eyes flew open as she began to squirm under the powerful hold. Seeing Shalimar's eyes glowing yellow, she tried to brace herself for what was about to come next.

Shalimar chuckled at the anxiety she smelt from Willow. She enjoyed torturing Willow, but only in a good way of course. One of the pleasures she was robbed of in her younger years. Now knowing she had the chance to make up for lost time, she wasn't gonna let it pass her by. Dropping her free hand, she ran her fingers up and down Willow's tummy, remembering from previous experience, where her weakness was.

Willow immediately squealed and squirmed, trying in vain to escape Shalimar's little torture session. Shalimar's eyes twinkled. She did entertain the notion of easing up on Willow, but nah; she was enjoying this too much.

Several minutes passed. Willow was huffing like crazy, begging for Shalimar to stop. She started to hiccup, probably a result from laughing too hard. Shalimar finally let up, giving Willow some room to breathe.

Giving a mock glare, Willow threw her pillow at the laughing Shalimar. "Big meanie."

"What?! Not my fault you can't get your lazy ass out of bed," Shalimar mustered an innocent smile.

Willow just rolled her eyes and threw herself back down on her pillow.

"Come on, get up! Otherwise, you get a second helping." Shalimar's eyes glowed yellow as a mischievous smile crept up her face.

Knowing Shalimar would make good on her threat, Willow relented. "Fine. Anything but that."

"Good. Get your tracksuit on. We're going for a little run." Shalimar got up and pulled Willow up.

"A run?" Willow looked up at her.

"Yeah. Adam wants your training to start today and this will help to build up your stamina." Shalimar smiled chucking the tracksuit at Willow.

Quickly slipping on the suit, Willow ran out of her room to follow Shalimar. "What for?"

"Because you need to build up your strength." Willow and Shalimar turned to see Adam approaching the two of them. "God knows the GSA won't rest until they have you back in their grasp and you need to be at the top of your game to beat them."

"Oh come on, Adam. I've managed to evade the GSA for over a year. No way they can catch me." Willow assured herself.

"That maybe true. But had it not been for Brennen and Jesse, you'd be in their grasp." Adam reminded her.

Willow shook her head in defeat, knowing Adam had a point. _Damn him._

"Come on, it's not gonna kill ya." Shalimar rubbed her back and pushed her onward.

"Willow, get used to Shalimar being your shadow. She's gonna be in charge of your training." Adam smiled glancing over at Shalimar.

"Yeah and don't expect me to go easy on you just cause you're my kid sister. In fact, you just might wish you'd never have met me." Shalimar winked at Adam as she led Willow away.

"Somehow, I get the feeling you maybe right," Willow sighed, following Shalimar.

Adam just laughed and shook his head. "Ferals."

"I heard that." Shalimar's voice rang from a distance.

_3 miles north of Stormking Mountain…_

The sun was just rising over the mountain, as the red sky slowly gave way to a blue one. It was quite a beautiful morning, with not a single cloud in the sky. Leaves flowed in harmony with the gentle morning breeze as birds woke from their peaceful sleep to serenade each other with a sweet song. Their songs were interrupted by two swiftly moving figures rustling threw the trees, inadvertently disturbing the peace of the morning.

Dodging the branches extending downwards towards the two individuals running through the forest, they quickly made their way down to a clearing.

Bursting with energy, Shalimar stopped and glanced behind her and laughed as an exhausted Willow made her way towards her. "See, what'd I tell ya. Piece of cake"

"Ya, just a regular walk in the park," Willow huffed sarcastically, holding her side as it screamed in pain.

"Sore?" Shalimar looked at her with a smirk.

"Yeah, my side is killing me." Wiping sweat off her forehead, she looked up at Shalimar. "Why am I doing this? I can take care of myself without this crap."

"Like Adam said, this crap is to…"   
"Ya, ya, ya, I know. Building up my stamina blah, blah, blah. I just don't get it." Willow stared at the ground, kicking a lose piece of dirt. 

"Willow, you're a part of Mutant X now. And being part of Mutant X is a big responsibility. You're part of a team now. This training we're giving you, is for our benefit as well as yours. It's gonna help you to focus yourself and give you better control over your powers. Being a feral isn't an easy thing. We're unpredictable and more likely to act on emotion. When you're in a dangerous situation, the last thing you should be doing is letting your emotions get in the way. You have to trust us."

Willow stood for a moment and looked Shalimar in the eye. "I trust you guys. I'm just not used to this."

"I understand. But get used to it, because it's part of everyday life." Shalimar turned and inhaled the morning breeze. "Come on, let's get back to Sanctuary. We'll have some breakfast. Then you and I have a date in the dojo."

"But that's three miles from here." Willow sighed knowing where this was going.

"Exactly, six miles every morning. Bright and early. Make sure you're up or I'll be there to make sure you are." Shalimar winked and began running back towards the brush.

Willow shook her head. "What have I gotten myself into?" She took off after Shalimar, trying to keep up with the feline feral's seemingly endless energy.

End of Chapter 1


	2. Feral In Training

Chapter 2 – Feral in Training 

_Sanctuary (just before noon)…_

The Sanctuary was pretty quiet. Brennen and Emma were on a grocery run and Jesse was doing some routine maintenance on the Helix. Since things were pretty quite, thankfully, Adam saw a great opportunity for beginning Willow's training. He knew, being related to Shalimar and a feral ontop of that, she had the same stubborn streak. Implementing Willow into the Mutant X mould was gonna be a difficult task to say the least. He realized Willow's mutation was unique, however. An arachnid feral was truly rare. He sat back, remembering the only time the team encountered an arachnid, Lorna Templeton. _Dangerous and beautiful, a lethal combination _ Adam thought.

Flashback_…_

"What did you do to him?" Adam yelled running to Brennen's side.

Lorna slowly backed towards the door, staring at Adam and a lifeless Brennen on the floor. "Guess I was too much woman for him."

Smiling, she turned around towards the door, to meet Shalimar staring right back at her. "This is gonna be worth the pain." Taking her arm out of her sling, she hit Lorna square in the face, knocking her to the floor.

Not even thinking twice, Shalimar ran to Adam and Brennen's side. Kneeling down, she caressed Brennen's face.

"We have to get him back to Sanctuary right away!" Adam said, gently lifting Brennen. Shalimar helped him as they quickly left the apartment.

Present_…_

He shook his head at the memory, thinking how lucky Brennen was that Emma was there to save him. If it hadn't been for her powers, Brennen would have surely died from Lorna's venom.

Relaxing back in his chair, he took a bite out of his sandwich and glanced back at his book, enjoying a rare moment's peace, when Shalimar and Willow came into the kitchen.

"Damn, you're pretty good. Better than I thought," Shalimar was quiet impressed with Willow's display in the dojo.

"Well, you forget, I did spend my life with the GSA. I was trained to fight by the best the GSA had to offer." Willow went to the fridge and took out a pitcher of ice water waiting for her. "Hey Adam, whatcha reading?"

"Oh just brushing up on my Egyptian mythology." Adam looked at her and showed her the book, _Egyptian Myths and Legends._

Willow's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree, as she sat down at the table. "Oh wow. I love mythology. I studied it a lot in my spare time at the GSA. This stuff is great."

"Didn't know you liked this stuff." Adam was surprised at Willow's enthusiasm.

"Well, when I wasn't being trained, I was in a cell. When you're in a cell with nothing better to do, you do what you can to pass the time. There were always books they brought to me, I guess to keep me from going crazy. So I started studying mythology and languages," She explained to both of them.

"Did they ever let you out?" Shalimar shook her head at Willow's treatment at Genomex.

"Well, the only time I was ever allowed to leave the compound, was to go to school. But I always had GSA agents following me. I wasn't allowed to have friends or socialize." Willow looked down, fighting a memory of Genomex.

"That's rough. Well, you don't have to worry about that anymore." Adam reassured her. "If you ever wanna borrow this, you're always welcome to. Also, Proxy Blue has a fabulous search engine. I'm sure you could find a lot of stuff on there, too."

"Thanks, I'll remember that." Willow smiled appreciatively.

"So, you also studied languages. How many can you speak?" Shalimar asked curiously.

"I can read, speak and write fluently in five different languages, not including English of course. French, Greek, Latin, Japanese and Egyptian." Willow replied.

"Brainwave," Shalimar joked.

"Jock strap," Willow joked back.

"Okay, smarty. Time to do some basic housecleaning. You get the bathrooms." Shalimar got up from the table.

"What?! Housecleaning?" Willow looked at her, surprised.

"Well, yeah. It's called earning your keep. We all have to do chores and you are definitely no exception." Shalimar motioned Willow to follow her.

"Aw come on. Isn't there any like, missions to go on or people to save or something? I mean, chores. Can't you get a Molly Maid or something?" Willow tried to talk her way out of chores.

Shalimar laughed and gently pushed her out of the kitchen. "Spoken like a true teenager."

About a half hour later… "THIS IS BULLSHIT!" could be heard throughout the Sanctuary, as Willow made no bones about letting everyone know how she felt about cleaning toilets. 

Shalimar stood there with a broom in her hands as Willow came stomping up to her. "Why do I have to do the toilets?"

"Because I said so, that's why." Shalimar played with the broom, as Willow became rather agitated with her.

"I don't wanna do no god damn chores! First, you getting me out of bed to go for a stupid run, then you kick my ass in the dojo and now I'm cleaning a fuckin' toilet!" Willow ranted.

Shalimar couldn't help it. Seeing the look on Willow's face was just too much. She began to laugh.

Willow looked up at her, curious at her reaction. "What the hell's so funny?"

"I'm sorry, sweetie. It's just the look on your face is priceless." Shalimar tried miserably to stifle a giggle.

Willow tried to remain angry with Shalimar, but a smile slowly crept up her face. Shalimar quickly caught it and began to tease her. "What's that, a smile I see?"

Willow tried to cover up the smile and cleared her throat.

Shalimar stopped laughing and put her hand on Willow's shoulder. "I'll tell you what. Finish up your chores and we'll go for a ride later. Just the two of us."

Willow smiled, satisfied with this deal.

"Hey guys. What's going on?" Brennen and Emma approached them with a good stock of groceries in tow.

"Chores!" Willow looked at all three of them.

"Yeah, well unfortunately, the Sanctuary isn't gonna clean itself," Brennen looked at her.

"Yeah, yeah." Willow turned and left to return to her chores.

Later that day… 

Shalimar and Willow left to go for a motorcycle ride, leaving a quiet Sanctuary behind. Brennen and Jesse were sitting in the kitchen talking, as Emma entered to join them.

"You coming tonight?" Jesse asked Emma as she sat down next to them.

"Where are you guys going?" Emma asked as she looked at the two of them.

"We're just gonna head out to the club tonight. Just to let off some steam, relax a little," Jesse responded.

"I was hoping Shal would come too," Brennen added, realizing shortly afterwards, how obvious that sounded. Luckily, Jesse just kind of brushed it off. But he knew Emma could see right through him.

"What about Willow? She's under age. That's not really fair to her to be stuck here by herself," Emma looked at them both.

"Yeah and I'm sorry that's the case, but, we can't honestly, put our lives on hold because Willow isn't old enough to go to a bar," Brennen responded, trying not to sound as insensitive as the statement suggested.

"Well, I'm gonna call Sarah, make sure she knows where to meet us," Jesse got up and left the table, leaving Emma and Brennen alone.

"So, are you gonna tell her?" Emma didn't waste any time.

"Am I that obvious?" Brennen looked up at her.

"Well, you forget I am an empath. But honestly, I don't need to be to know that you have strong feelings towards her." Emma kind of knew for a while, she just wanted to wait until Brennen was able to admit it. Little did he know that Emma was aware that Shalimar harbored similar feelings as well.

Brennen looked at her. "I don't know. I don't think it's something you can plan. But it would be nice."

"Well, good luck." Emma said nothing more as she left, leaving Brennen to ponder his move alone.

Late Evening … 

Shalimar and Emma were getting ready to meet Jesse and Brennen as the four of them were gonna go out.

"Do I look alright?" Shalimar was uncharacteristically nervous. Emma could sense her anxiety, knowing what it was all about.

"You look fine, Shal." Emma reassured her.

"Just fine?" Shalimar looked back at her.

"Alright, you look sexy, Shal," Emma changed her statement.

"That's better." Shalimar turned as she heard at knock at her door. "Come in. Hey Will."

Willow walked into the room and sat down next to Emma on the edge of the bed. "Hey guys, I was just thinking. Why don't we go catch a flick or something."

Shalimar looked at Emma and looked back at Willow. "Ummmm, well that's sounds great sweetie, but we kind of made plans already."

A small hint of disappointment fell across Willow's face. "Oh, where are you guys going?"

"Oh, we're just heading to a club for a little while. Just to let loose for a while," Emma answered.

"I see." Willow tried to mask her disappointment, but Emma sensed a wave of sadness fall over the young feral. "I guess I can't come because I'm under age." Willow swallowed hard and nodded. "Well have fun."

She turned to walk out when Shalimar stopped her. "Hey, we'll do a movie tomorrow night okay?"

"Okay" Willow mustered a fake smile.

"Brainwave," Shalimar said.

"Jock strap," Willow responded. That was kind of a code between the two of them for I love you.

Willow closed the door behind her and walked down the hall towards her room, as she wiped a single tear off her face.

The End

Well, actually just the beginning. This is kind of a prelude to the next story, a small space filler really. The next story focuses more on Brennen and Shalimar, as well as Willow's jealous streak.

So let me know what you think.

Coming up

Part III of the Blood is Thicker series, "Deadly Sin"

Willow becomes jealous of Brennen and Shalimar's developing relationship, creating tension between the two siblings.


End file.
